Monday, May 28, 2007

Sagar: Fun With Limbless Lizards!

A new limbless lizard may have been discovered in India though the finding has yet to be published in a scientific journal. The discovery is significant because it seems for now that the species is only found in eastern India with its closest relatives being in Sri Lanka and South Africa! Lizards and snakes diverged on the evolutionary tree a long time ago. Limbless lizards are thus not snakes. I just thought this new discovery was interesting as it tangentially relates to our discussion last week about how the difference between two closely related species seems arbitrary. What makes this species a lizard and not a snake???? This new species sure does look like a snake. It seems nowadays, that species are traced genetically as well as morphologically making the classifications more legitimate. The link to the article is here .